A Man of God

By:  Jonathan Edwards J. Olabre
As lifted from his original  FB post entitled Good Christians.

Days before he (Pope Francis) came here, I had an acrimonious discussion with another Facebook friend. My point was that how come the pope was not issuing anything stronger about Islamic Terrorism after the Paris terrorist attacks. His message was that he condemns violence. That was ambiguous for me. As a leader of the largest Christian denomination, I expected something stronger. I perceived it as weakness and an inability to protect Christendom. After that heated exchange, I offered my apologies and just kept silent. . . . . Although a few of my correspondences with others continued. I resolved to be more circumspect in deference to many of my countrymen whom I have no aim of slighting in any way. That it is just a matter of doctrine and dogma that makes the difference.

WE SHOULD BE CRYING BECAUSE OF OUR APATHY.

We should all be crying because we are all to blame! During that exchange, there were those who cannot condone the course of action that I advocated even though they were my natural allies. In the end I just told them that after the victory against the Muslim Heathens, they can just hold their War Crimes trial and indict me and those like me during the conduct of the war of extermination and annihilation of another civilization. My main point was that nobody cares now what the Romans did to Carthage and our civilization is a result of that. It was one civilization over the other.

So I kept silent and thought about it more. I have no love for liberal agendas and I realized that as I grew older, I tended to be more conservative in my views. A product of learning and experience. And as I reflected some more, I thought about what kind of civilization that I was defending.

The answer came in three stages. When Pope Francis spoke in Malacanang, he made a sweeping condemnation of corruption. No political party was singled out. It was a statement that all those who are in positions of authority have a responsibility not to be corrupt. That they are all equally guilty of allowing a system that takes away from the poor. That a system such as that is not only immoral but an obscenity before the eyes of God and Man. He did not do it in a combative way. No fire and brimstone sermon but what makes it strong is on the manner how he delivered it. It was like an old school teacher, knowing all the tricks of students, aware of styles and manners and methods and say that “You cannot fool God” . Buking ko kayo!

The second stage was on Saturday. Going to Tacloban. He went there inspite of the risks because of the weather. I know how it is like to fly in airpockets and even had on occasion took a flight fleeing from a storm. That was in 1997 coming from Boracay. But this Pope, knew a storm was coming. He knew that danger lies ahead. He knew that the people there were the real reason he came here. He must be here. As he said “Am a little bit late. But I am here” . He deliberately flew into the teeth of the storm. He did not make great statements after hearing the hurts and pains of the survivors. Instead, with a show of great humility, he just kept silent. He knew that none of his words will be enough. He chose to keep all of it and suffer their plight in his heart. He was not after votes and approval. He was there to be able to share the feelings of suffering and despair. He had to learn how it was. As he said, the trip was for him. He discovered that he had to partake of the contents of the cup. He had to be there. A truncated trip because of exigencies and situations beyond anyone’s control, he apologized for leaving early. Many would not appreciate the fact that when the airplane took off at 1:00 P.M., the storm was just 50 kilometers away. Like the distance from Manila to Tagaytay or Dau, Pampanga. At 3:00 P.M. the storm made landfall. It was that close. But there was no bravado involved. I realized that inspite of my idea that he was “ soft”, he had a backbone of steel. He had courage and bravery not seen in the world for many years. It was courage and bravery not borne out of temporal or worldly power but a strength based on faith. If Josef Stalin were alive today, he cannot utter “ how many divisions does the Pope have?”. Josef Stalin cannot fly into the teeth of a storm and leave with its jaws biting at his heels. Mao Zedong cannot say “Power goes out from the barrel of a gun” in the teeth of a storm. It was bravery and courage borne on faith.

The 3rd Stage was when he was at UST. Of hearing the words of Glydell, of a question on why God would allow children to be victimized by prostitution and drugs. I was choking in order to prevent tears. I lit a cigarette and went out the door. My chest felt like it was being held in a vise. Glydell made the unanswerable question. It was a question that I have made myself and heard others who scoff at the thought of a God allowing such things to happen. It was an existentialist question. He could have answered using tracts in the Bible, instances of miracles and even divert the issue. He chose to meet it head on. He said it was a question, not even expressed through words but conveyed by tears. It was a question he has no answer. Again, he showed that he was human and not all knowing. By doing that, he showed that he was not unlike all of us who have such questions with regards to the faith.

But I realized that he actually gave the answer. His answer of “If we don’t learn how to cry, we can never be good Christians.” . As I understand it, it was more than a cry of pity for Glydell and the unfortunate and downtrodden, as I realized, we must cry for ourselves. It is not God who allows such a state of affairs, it is us who allows such. We do it by being apathetic. We do it by selling our votes. We do it for working for a system that creates such iniquities. But most importantly, those in power, economic and political must learn how to cry. Those in government, regardless of political affiliation must cry. The captains of Industry must cry. Crying in this case goes beyond Corporate Social Responsibility. Crying in this case is more than giving scholarship foundations and medical outreach activities. Those who are in power must cry to be able to understand the plight of those who are in despair. Crying entails that they take stock on what they have and what it means to have much in a land where there is want and need for many. Crying for them must mean that they transform themselves not only as agents of change but agents of re-distribution. That they cry because they can afford to eat more than 3 times a day. That they have cars, boats and planes when so many have no shoes. He does not have to directly attack the injustices of this world, attack by naming names. He did it by just showing up. By being an example. He did not say "look at me, look at me and how simple I am" . The bar for faith and leadership has just got a notch higher. Pope Francis sure showed them! No better and louder shout of rebuke and condemnation than the silence of example.They must cry for themselves because whatever they have done, they cannot be good Christians.

That is what it meant to me these past few days. I kept silent and reflected. Not a Vicar of Christ in my belief but Definitely a Man of God.

(The writer claims that he is a Protestant who don't believe in apostolic succession but gave an interesting reflection on the Pope's visit.)

You may also like reading related post:  What a God Loving and Believing Nation Really Is?

Glimpses: Come home, sons and daughters

By:  Jose Ma. Montelibano
Originally Posted at Philippine Daily Inquirer Sept. 13, 2012

Does anyone know how much money Filipino-Americans send to their families in the Philippines? I am told it is $8 billion annually or about P340 billion. I am not sure if Filipino-Canadians are included in this amount. Either way, the amount is staggering.

Does anyone know how many Filipino-Americans remit money home? Well, the latest available study of Asian-Americans pinpoint Filipinos somewhere at the top with 52% of them sending money to the Philippines.

Does anyone know how many balikbayan boxes are sent to the Philippines by Filipino-Americans? I don’t, I simply do not have the data. But the Bureau of Customs may, and, of course, the forwarders doing business in the US if they can consolidate their business volumes. And then, there are more balikbayan boxes sent whenever disaster strikes.

Does anyone know how much Filipino-Americans earn in the United States? I don’t, but I have a good idea. Using the per capita income of Americans, and knowing Filipino-Americans earn just as much if not more, then we can safely assume that it is upwards of $160 billion.
Does anyone know how much Filipino-Americans spend to live in the US? In the year 2000 or 2001, a marketing study mentioned that Filipino-Americans spend $50 billion a year. That figure is estimated to be between $60-70 billion today.

Does anyone know how much the IMF, the World Bank, the ADB, and the US Exim Bank lend to the Philippines every year on the average? I don’t, but anyone can ask the Central Bank or get the figures from government reports. I am willing to conclude, though, that it cannot be more than $2 billion annually.

What’s the point of all these questions?

We have our own people, Filipino-Americans, who left in search of a dream they could not see becoming true in the motherland. They struggled as strangers in another land, as minorities competing against a powerful mainstream, and decades later finally making it.

The cost was steep – separation, homesickness, cold winters, and often enduring being regarded as less than equal. Beyond the cars and houses and modern way of life, we often do not see the pain and loneliness.

And too often, too, we do not understand the longing they bear quietly for their people, their homeland. We see the material trappings but not what we take for granted – being where we are, the natural belonging with one another and the only land Filipinos can call their own.

Why don’t we make it easy for them to have their reunion? Why don’t we court them to visit, to stay, maybe even live out the rest of their lives here? Why don’t we roll out the red carpet so they can invest here, or give outright grants to the poor we do not know how to take care of anyway? Why not serve the needy and weak with their time, talent and treasures?

Why do we bow and curtsy to financial institutions whom we do not wish to be submissive to anymore? Why don’t we reach out to our own people in America and explain how a few billion dollars a year, as investment in our own people, land and future, can change history with them as the heroes they can be?

We spend so much effort and resources to reach out to other peoples and nations, yet give nowhere enough appreciation and importance to sons and daughters of our motherland. Ask the Central Bank and our Finance officials what $8 billion does to our economy? Ask the Secretary of Tourism what millions of Filipino-American tourists can mean, not just with their visits and expenses here, but more so with their promoting the Philippines. Ask the Secretary of Foreign Affairs just how an awakened Fil-Am sector can facilitate a truly friendly relationship with the US?

We can go down the line of departments and ask them how 4 million Filipino-Americans who earn more than $160 billion a year and send $8 billion of that to their families in the Philippines can do to make them achieve their goals faster and better. These are our flesh and blood, patriots in exile, comrades in the war against poverty, fellow dreamers for the future generations.

While we are at it, we can ask the Professional Regulatory Commission and the Department of Health why they are not rolling out the red carpet for Filipino-American doctors, nurses and volunteers who spend their own money and time to care for the poor through their medical missions that the PRC and the DOH cannot serve. We have to ask these agencies what they have done, and plan to do, with maybe twenty million Filipinos begging for medical treatment because they never had it.

The most important question that must be answered before the nation – why are Commissioners of PRC making it difficult for Filipino-Americans to help? If they cannot anymore attend to the poorest for lack of funds, the DOH should beg Filipino-American doctors to please arrange for more medical missions.

I plead to our brothers and sisters in America not to give up on our people, especially the poor. I plead for them to remember how they, too, stayed faithful to their dream against all odds. They must subordinate their distaste and revulsion for a bureaucratic attitude and give the welfare of the sick among the needy higher priority. They must not allow the poor to suffer by letting the PRC get away with the worst kind of behavior in a moment of great change in our country.

I ask Filipino-Americans to let their love for the motherland and the common good to be their highest motives and greatest joy to serve. If officials in the PRC can betray the public trust so casually, Filipino-Americans can teach them about generosity, humaneness and patriotism. Please prepare for thousands of medical missions and defy the selfishness of regulatory officials with your determination to care and share. If you can find the heart for the poorest among our race, and show it, many more among us may yet learn to do the same.

Challenges to Puerto Princesa as the Lone Green City

Lynch May H. Ulsano
Palawan State University
Puerto Princesa City

Looking at the City’s Current Situation
Recent media reports state that the inclusion of Puerto Princesa’s Underground River as one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature has increased the arrival of tourists from 160,000 in 2007, to 514,000 last year.  Mayor Edward Hagedorn said that it would likely hit 625,000 this year and 1.2 Million a year by 2016.  From only four flights daily, the city’s small airport, now has to accommodate twenty flights daily.

Hagedorn attributed this not only to its jewel, the underground river but but also to other places of entertainment being developed in the city.

“Dati wala kaming zip line, ngayon ang dami na. Dati hindi masyadong popular and trekking, ngayon popular na,” Hagedorn said, adding that the city now has floating restaurants, and shark and dolphin watching facilities, among others.

He said that while not all of the 514,000 visitors recorded in 2011 actually went to see the underground river, around 60 percent to 70 percent did.

With the sudden influx of tourists is the question and challenges of sustainability.  Tourists are now every where.  One out of every three vehicles on city streets is a van packed with tourists, crawling behind tricycles buzzing around like flies.

To accommodate them resulted with the construction of new tourist facilities which are going on simultaneously all over the city.  Dust has no time to settle.  Rapid change is everywhere; the city is aggressively in expansion mode.  I fear that time will come that I could no longer recognize it.

Already evident are the traffic, urban congestion and visual chaos that follow the rush to build up a city known to be the greenest in the country.

Puerto Princesa nowadays has that boomtown feel.  The city is changing right before your eyes, and in a year or so it will be practically unrecognizable.

Borrowing from my reference, the Puerto Princesa that I know way back in my elementary days and a few of my high school days as they say and I could compare based on what I can see on TV and movies is a unique city.  It is city with a rural identity because it is green unlike others.  Fully grown trees shaded its broad main avenues, a perfect green foil to the low-rise structures along the streets.

Now, those endangered avenues are harder to find now.  New development is homogenizing the look of the city, soon to look like all other newly developed areas in any other Philippine city where one-strip mall after another lines streets with no sidewalks and no trees.

I fear that current changes have also affected the life style and norms of the common folks.  With this is the fear that the introduction of mall culture might endanger the simple life style and morality that Palawan people are known for and that with this, because of materialism, the environment is highly at risk particularly the southern part even the northern part even when the law is strictly being implemented.

How will they go against the temptation of wanting more? Of over stretching their budget just to buy this and buy that? Or, so that their will be more money to finance unnecessary wants, to look for other sources commonly against righteousness.

Recommendations
Strict planning and zoning should be instituted and implemented to preserve Puerto Princesa’s identity that sets it apart from any other place in the country and that makes the city a tourist attraction.

It should maintain what is it known for, the green city and the province on its part, worthy of being called, the last frontier.

Aside from allowing maximum development to happen in a regulated manner to prevent overdevelopment, zoning and planning measures control traffic, pollution; and while allowing the city to grow, control measures maintain growth at sustainable levels.

Determining and maintaining sustainable levels to effectively manage tourism growth are essential to keep alive the goose that lays Puerto Princesa’s golden eggs.  The goal is to sustain rather than deplete tourism resources.

The question of the human impact particularly on the underground river should also be studied and of primordial concern.

How does the increased carbon dioxide from human exhalation impact on the ecosystem balance within the cave?  There were reports that the number of bats living in the cave have decreased, an indication of a change in the ecosystem balance within the cave.

Humans introduce lint that flies around, attaches to the cave walls, and impedes the natural formation of stalactites and stalagmites.  Think of how much lint an average of 45,000 humans who enter the cave per month can give off.  How do the rock formations combat lint?

Being inscribed on the World Heritage List requires managing and maintaining the natural equilibrium of the park, assuring its sustainability and its future, while allowing tourists and visitors to enjoy its natural beauty.

A Management plan to protect and guide all impacts in the entire Puerto Princesa Subterranean River Park is what the city is committed to.  And it should insure by all its might and of the law that it is strictly implemented without pause.

The tourist buzz is expected to bring more benefits to the Puerto Princesa community, and it should.

However, unless sustainability guides the tourist boom, in the end the benefits could turn out to be not only short-lived, but also harmful to the city’s tourism assets, providing only temporary relief for the community.

Tourism is normally double-edged:  beneficial when well-managed, and disastrous when tourism assets are exploited.

If not hatched sustainably, those golden eggs may turn out not be golden in the long run.

References:

Elona Jamie Marie, Tourist arrivals in Puerto Princesa likely to hit 700,000, INQUIRER.net
5:16 pm | Wednesday, April 18th, 2012

Villalon Augusto F., Augusto F., Is Puerto Princesa’s tourism boom sustainable? Philippine Daily Inquirer 1:08 am | Monday, March 12th, 2012

Economic Development Through Good Governance and Active Social Involvement

By Gilbert M. Forbes

Through the years, many parts of the country particularly the rural areas are and have remained poor.  Though, could not fully blamed on the national government but still, it has something to do with bias and unequal economic policy which give less and less focus on agriculture beneath the fact that it is the life-blood of the majority of the poor—at least 70% of them.

Considering that Agriculture is a least economic priority, it is not
surprising that most of the poorest of the poor are coconut farmers.
 (Photo sourced out from www.filamnation.com)

Experts are saying that in order for the current economic policy to have an impact on the poor, economic growth should at least post a record of 7.5% in a continuing basis for more than a decade like that of our neighboring countries.  China and Vietnam are the best example.

But it’s not the case for the country.  Its growth is erratic.  Furthermore, growth is concentrated in the service sector, government or public spending and consumer increase purchases made alive by OFW remittances which has reached more than $20 Billion!  Agriculture roughly reaches more than 2% which is just the population growth equivalent.  If only, growth in this sector could the country’s average, or let say, growth is inclusive, the impact would really be great.  Because of the slow growth in Agriculture, production isn’t that much thus, food is quite high in the country compared to other ASEAN countries like Thailand who’s Agriculture has known to have been in full swing in the 90’s and has continued since then.

In a broader perspective, aside from individual biases, beliefs, and treatment towards gainful living and occupation, local governance has something to do also with economic development.  Economic planning and implementation is top to bottom.  And even with such set-up, still, many of the good programs that the national government intends to implement end up a failure once it reach the community level units after sometime due to lack of sustainability.  There simply is no meeting of great minds from the national down to the local government particularly at the barangay level.  It is not surprising because majority of the leadership at the barangay level lack the necessary leadership and transformational management skills and capabilities that will encourage popular sustainable public support that will steer economic development in their respective areas.

Although many local government units at the municipal level are bent on training barangay chief executives, as observed and experienced in some quite a number of meetings, level of commitment is too weak.  This is very evident particularly in the implementation of priority programs like for instance on the protection of women and children, basic clean and green projects, and livelihoods programs.  For instance swine raising and pig dispersal as a livelihood program most commonly end up to nothingness.  The same with credit facility being offered to start a cooperative.

This could be attributed to lack or very low level of accountability on these elected officials and man forms of dependence on their municipal leaders up to the national level and vice versa .  As one municipal employee once quoted, “ang hirap-hirap namang pasunurin ng mga kapitan, kapag may pamiting ka, hindi lahat nakiki-cooperate.”  It is not surprising, because why are they into these positions in the first place?  There could still be many whose intentions are pure but their incapacity have put them at a loss.  Some on the other hand are just after the position as a source of livelihood, additional source of income for others and connection to further their business interests.  Failon Ngayon, of ABS-CBN Channel 2 has validated this assumption continuously through a series of segments tackling our leaders inefficiency.

At the outset, aside from the national government reviewing its economic policies to make it more effective, local government should also be doing the best thing they could do to improve the living condition of their people.  Individual citizens too must work hard particularly those who already have the means to move out of poverty.  The rich and the middle class however, should extend their hands to their lowly brethren.  They must help invest in their education and in agriculture even when little returns or no returns at all are expected instead of getting drowned in materialism, craze and fads which characterize many of the middle class and rich urban dwellers.

In this time, that our country is being bullied by rich and powerful countries just because we are poor and weak, the challenge and need to get out of poverty, and be wealthy is timely.  Its only when every citizens of our country progress and become financially independent that our country becomes economically and militarily strong because we already have the money and resources.  But until majority of our people are poor so our country is.

Getting out of poverty is not only a challenge for everybody who is poor. Achieving good governance by learning to have better choices among decent. righteous and God-loving political candidates.  Most importantly the topmost social, moral and spiritual responsibility of the bourgeois and elite groups is invest their money wisely and to help others get out of poverty.

Indeed for economic development to occur, active social involvement of every body in achieving good governance is important for only good governance could level the playing field.

(Apart from working in the government as an educator.  The writer has been active in the social movement working for social transformation as a former member of Alyansa ng mga Kristiyanong Mag-aaral.  He holds a Bachelor and MA in Educational Management (CAR) at the Philippine Normal University)

You may also like the following under Politics and Good Governance:

The Philippines, Our Only Home 
Tired of Corruption? We Can Do Something About It 

To all who already have a source of income on a regular basis, you may like the articles under Financial Literacy or Personal Finance

Disorder and Chaos During the Holiday Season

Just like last Christmas, I have gone to the wet market here in our city to buy some food stuff for the new year only to be disgusted by the chaos and dirt.  Plastics and all sorts of garbage are just scattered everywhere while vendors who are responsible for all those mess do nothing.  What make the matter worst is that these vendors are occupying almost all the spaces they can creating traffic jams of both people and the public and private transport.  Undisciplined consumers however just throw there garbage.

This is better for a public market but not in the place mentioned here.

I don’t know but the authorities are unmindful of the matter. While everybody just keep the heck out of it.  The vendors and the consumers responsible and the authorities who are all accountable don't care.  Yet some of these individuals are even promoting tourism?

I just cant help but to ask myself, is it the worth of the Holiday Season?  Of Christmas and New Year in this part of the country and the world?  That it tend to downplay discipline and order just because it is so? What has happened now to the supposed spiritual maturity and enlightenment that Christmas should have been brought.  Or what about the challenge of constinuously striving for changes for the better that every new year gives?  An ordinary visitor like me was disgusted and highly irritated, what more for visitors or new comers.

This is only the tip of the iceberg in this city.  Not to include undisciplined commuters and drivers who are contributors to traffic jams.  And the garbage too in almost every corner.  Really irritating! 

For over a hundred years, our country has been celebrating New Year and Christmas as a colonized nation, later an independent state.  For centuries too, we are taught that Christmas brought with us God and New Year is the time to forget the bad old and retain the good even improve it for the new.

However, these have fallen on deaf ears and what matters now is self satisfaction.  Political leaders in the city however seem to be unmindful or totally ignorant of the matter.  What have we different from the things we consider evil?  For example, many are willing to spend money on dangerous fire crackers but are unwilling to support their churches and schools.

I feel aggravated because these are all what the youngsters are always seeing.  What is more irritating is these people want lots from the government and the state yet instead of being part of the solution, they are part of the problem.  The local government however is soft on the matter-- the downside of popular and patronage politics.

Still, I have high hopes and faith in the power of prayer.  And that somewhere, out there, there are also individuals who feel the same shame as I do who happens to have connections or contacts to responsible individuals- disregarding the evils of popular patronage politics for the common good.

I hope that this new year will make evil doers and unrighteousness become new as this season expects them to be. I wish too that leaders in the area may come to see it for themselves so that they could implement what is necessary.  God Speed!

(This blogger writes in the suburb of Lucena City.  He is irritated and stressed that order seems to be deteriorating partly because of lack of discipline and certain level of humanity viz animalistic behavior and apathy of the many.)

Glimpses: What is Filipino-American?

By: Jose Ma. Montelibano
Opinion.Inquirer.Net 9:15 pm | Thursday, June 16th, 201

Visiting America regularly in the last four years to help promote the Gawad Kalinga movement has made me understand more deeply the life of most Filipino-Americans. I had many assumptions that have dramatically changed, and a few that have been affirmed even more so. My first visits to the United States just over forty years ago were business-driven and ended in 1986 after the historic speech of Corazon Aquino before the US Congress. It took twenty years before I visited again, and I have been in a special journey of rediscovering Filipinos who have become Americans ever since.

There was a census taken last year, 2010, and the results are not yet out. The speculation, though, is that there must be approximately four million Filipinos in America, mostly documented and now citizens of the United States or in the process of being so. They are not Overseas Filipino Workers, they are immigrants. They are not leaving the motherland temporarily, they are leaving it forever as Filipinos to become Filipino-Americans. They are like the daughters of a family who get married and then adopt the family name of their husbands, permanently out of the home where they were born and raised.

The foreign language, the vastness of America, the lifestyle of the West and a developed economy confront new and budding Filipino-Americans and force them to make dramatic changes in their own lives and habits. Except for the few who did migrate to the United States as rich Filipinos, the rest have had to wrestle with the drastic changes of their new environment. While the trappings of an advanced economy must have dazzled the new Filipino-American, having to struggle to afford these must have rattled many of them. But as an ethnic group, after several decades and waves of migration, Filipino-Americans have arrived, have survived, and are thriving in their new country of opportunity.

Filipino-Americans are full-fledged American citizens. When introducing themselves to the world, they are Americans and accorded all the rights and privileges of American citizens. When they need identification and travel documents, they go to American agencies; abroad, they go to American embassies. They may look brown, but they are Americans.

There is actually no need to call themselves Filipino-Americans because they are Americans and not Filipinos. Even though they are of Filipino descent, they cannot identify themselves as Filipino citizens, only as American citizens. The rest is true of other American citizens as well, no matter what motherland they may have come from. They are all immigrants from somewhere (except the American Indians), mostly Europe a few centuries ago, and now from all over the rest of the world. They are Americans now, not British, not French, not Italians, not Germans, not Africans, not Polish, not Israelis, not Spanish, not Portuguese, not Mexican, not Vietnamese, not Chinese, not Filipinos.

Moving across America, especially when I do so overland and driving for days making stops whenever the tired body needs to, I interact with many Americans from the gas stations to the groceries to the shops and restaurants. Most of them identify themselves as Americans, of course. Very few quickly say, I am “Afro-American, German-American, etc.” even though physical attributes may strongly indicate their original countries or regions. And, rightly so because they are Americans.

This is a reality I have had to struggle with in my mind and in my heart, to accept that Filipinos are now Americans – as much as that white person whose ancestors came from Europe, as much as that black person whose ancestors came from Africa, as much as all the rest whose ancestors came from some part of the globe. I did not realize until so much later that I had assumptions that were not necessarily false, but definitely not true anymore. I believe that many Filipinos in the motherland have similar assumptions as the ones I had, and one day will have to learn the same lessons as I do today.

What makes it difficult to realize that Filipinos in America are now Americans and not Filipinos is the fact that they keep identifying themselves as Filipinos by using the word “Filipino” in the term “Filipino-American.” By holding on to the word “Filipino”, Filipino-Americans are regarded as more Filipino than American by Filipinos in the Philippines. Much more so by their own families or relatives. There may be some who more quickly say, “I am not Filipino, I am American,” but these  do not yet reflect the mainstream sentiments and articulation of Filipinos who are now Americans.

The term “Filipino-American” used to identify Filipinos who are now American citizens serve to keep deep bonds alive. No matter how substantial the changes have been in their lives, most Filipino-Americans retain traits that identify them as Filipinos, including language or regional dialect. These bonds make it difficult for many of us to realize the major shift of citizenship, of required obligations attached to that citizenship, of global identity.

Since the use of the term “Filipino-American” is one by choice of those as only the term “American” is required by law, it might be time for Filipino-Americans to reflect on the reasons why they choose to identify themselves as such. By holding on to the word “Filipino”, Filipino-Americans must realize that there are implications when doing so. The word “Filipino” is a term that is alive, representing a race and a motherland. If there is no strong attachment to one’s race and one’s motherland, there is no reason or benefit to continue identifying oneself as “Filipino” when one is already an American.

The context of choice is that it has implications, and these implications affect the lives of those who make choices and many others. By calling themselves “Filipino-Americans”, Filipinos who are now Americans involve make a choice that keep them attached to the Filipino race and the Filipino motherland.

(Below is the second part where the author discusses about the choice, the attachment, and the implications they have on all who care about being Filipino.)

Glimpses

What Is The Filipino-American? (Part II)

By: Jose Ma. Montelibano
Opinion.Inquirer.Net 7:08 am | Friday, June 24th, 2011 

The term “Filipino” is the family name of Filipinos who reside in the Philippines as native sons and daughters of a race belonging to the motherland known as the Philippines. It is the father’s family name for Filipino citizens, and it serves as the mother’s family name for Filipino-Americans who continue to call themselves “Filipino-Americans.”

The dimension of Filipinos as a race or a national family is not appreciated nearly enough. The fact that our ancestors had not reached nationhood before colonial powers took control of the motherland and dominated even the way Filipinos lived explains why the sense of nationhood is weak. The assumption of race as a national family is more biological than a lived reality; the sense of the collective, of the whole, has yet to become part of the Filipino psyche.

The sense of a personal family, however, is deep and, in fact, dominates the Filipino lifestyle. For one’s family, a Filipino can go more than the extra mile, can live a life of sacrifice. The Filipino is strongly anchored on the family, and reversely so, very weakly grounded on a sense of nation. In the United States, the income of the Filipino family is second only to another ethnic group and higher than mainstream American families. This is a reflection of how a Filipino family working together can achieve from a secure foundation. And a remittance level of $8 billion from Filipino-Americans to their families in the Philippines these last two years is an outstanding measure of that sense of family.

Locked to personal family ties, Filipinos have had serious difficulty in expanding the sense of a personal family to a sense of a national or global family. A true nation does not exist because personal family boundaries cannot be transcended, or pushed further out to accommodate neighborhoods, communities and the whole motherland. This underdevelopment of a priority to the common good keeps Filipinos divided, divisive, and vulnerable to the machinations of their own leaders or the government of other countries.

Filipinos who left the Philippines to migrate to America did not leave their weaknesses behind, only an environment where opportunities could not match the natural wealth of the motherland. Many in leadership positions among Filipino-Americans mirror the qualities of leadership in the Philippines, if not in the tendency to exploit, then in the tendency to put personal interests, including pride, ahead of the common good. Then, the ordinary mass of Filipinos, both in the Philippines and in the United States, remain servile, subservient, submissive, and in avoidance of participation in community affairs. Most are also very tired and have no motivation to exchange a weekend of rest to watching Filipino-American associations, or their leaders, compete and put down one another.

In the last four years of going back and forth the Philippines and America, I have yet to read or hear a comprehensive perspective of the Filipino-American. Almost ten years ago, I stumbled on a market research survey about the cost-of-living of Filipino-Americans, estimated at $50 billion annually. It could be more than $60 billion today. Aside from a remittance to the Philippines of $8 billion, the average per capita GDP of Americans is $47,000 – and I am assuming that it is the same, or higher, for Filipino-Americans. If so, Filipino-Americans may be earning an estimated $$114 billion annually assuming there are three million Filipino-Americans today (I suspect more).

In early 2008, I was privy to survey results done in San Diego County which estimated that only 5% maximum of Filipino-Americans participate in community affairs. In several other places I have been to in the United States, estimates may even be lower. Again, mirroring their patterned subservience which translates to passivity in the United States, Filipino-Americans are largely uninvolved, unseen, unheard and unfelt. No wonder that Wikipedia refers to Filipino-Americans as either the “invisible” or “silent” minority. Yet, the attachment and generosity to their personal families translate to an awesome $8 billion a year.
If Filipino-Americans do not know their collective strength, they are more aware of their weaknesses. So many disparaging remarks are made by Filipino-Americans themselves about, not only regarding the poverty, corruption and divisiveness of Filipinos and the Philippines, but also about negative traits and behavior of their fellow immigrants in the United States. They are the first to bash themselves and their roots. I do not think there is anyone in second place. Thank goodness that the vast majority is silent enough not to add to this public or Internet bashing against Filipinos and Filipino-Americans.

Last week, I received an unusual amount of commentaries or responses to Part One of this series. The variety of their written comments affirms the many ways that Filipino-Americans think of themselves and others like them. I was pleasantly surprised, though, that all of those who wrote me had a positive take on their being Filipino – even if some had criticisms for how others are.

I had mentioned that Filipino-Americans have choices about how they can call themselves, either as “Americans” or as “Filipino-Americans.” In the Philippines, there is no choice, of course—we are simply and only “Filipinos.” But when Filipino in America choose to call themselves “Filipino-Americans,” they invoke the family name of their race and motherland. Without that live connection to blood and land, the term “Filipino” for Filipino-Americans has no real meaning.

Those who refer to themselves as Filipino-Americans are saying, “I belong to the Filipino race, and the Philippines is the land of my ancestors.” Immediately, non-Filipinos who hear this think of the Filipino people aside from just the individual Filipino-American speaking. Together with this is the assigning to the family name all that is positive and negative about the Filipino. Filipino-Americans, therefore, cannot escape being seen or judged as a people. Their own personal status is affected by the reputation or the imagery of the family name, for good or for bad.

There are many attributes of Filipinos that are beautiful and noble. Sadly, though, it is collective poverty and endemic corruption that dominate in the definition of the Filipino and the Philippines. Is this imagery one that Filipino-Americans have to live with? Or is there a way to reverse history?

Is it Really Poverty that Drives Filipinos OFW

By:  Gilbert M. ForbesDepEd Quezon 
Region IV-A CALABARZON

For many, it is no longer poverty, perse that drives them to go abroad and become an OFW.  It's the trend because of popular belief of easy money, big income, and more opportunities.

No other than Dr. Clement Camposano, a senior instructor and migration anthropologist from the University of Asia and the Pacific, who explained in an article from globalnation.inquirer.net,  that although many countries are experiencing destitution, poverty is merely one of the factors and not the root cause of Filipino migration. "Those who work abroad are not all poor, or at least not the poorest of the poor for it takes quite a big amount of money to prepare for overseas work.

It is not ordinary therefore that even a public school teacher who is receiving a gross starting salary of Php18,000.00 when given an opportunity to go abroad with a double or triple the amount he/she receives locally will really be tempting and would not blink an eye to accept it even to the point of selling all their properties here if offered for instance to work and reside lets say in the US, Canada, New Zealand or Australia.

This is the case of some of our OFW’s.  The rest they say are driven due to lack of opportunities in our country and out of despair of the system of governance which in the very essence is the failure of the majority to select and vote wisely.  They blame the government which is a total reflection and image of themselves - of who they are as a people.

Was it really lack of opportunities or because we are failing to create opportunities for ourselves like the poor Chinese when they first arrive in our country, or the Indians?   Or is it because our parameters of success are limited on what only the eyes can see?  Or we lack the patience, perseverance, frugality and know how of managing and improving the resources we have?

These we don’t recognize and accept and has remain cautious of that’s why it is easy to blame others and point fingers or escape rather than face and learn from it.

The country is indeed surviving from OFW remittance which could reach as high as $19 Billion a year enough to transform the nation into a new industrialized economy in five to ten years if being spent and managed wisely by its recipients.  But it doesn’t for it end up going back to the host countries of our migrant workers at the blink of an eye due to local spending of foreign-made goods mostly electronics and communication gadgets.

It isn’t surprising that we have the most advance and up to date gadgets and gizmos than our neighboring countries except for the countries producing it.  Cell phones users alone are 82 million.  Just allot a peso a day for these users and would be a staggering 30 billion pesos a year!  It’s more than enough to build 60 000 classrooms or hire additional 150,000 teachers or send a million of elementary and high school students to school for free!

Landing a job or working abroad is financially beneficial but other than this, no more.  Various studies made on the families of itinerant workers find it more damaging than rewarding in terms of moral, psychological, and sociological aspect simply because of the imbalance it creates ones a mother or a father leave.  That’s why, if they already have a job and could make both ends meet here, it is no longer recommended to work abroad.  Or if they have no other option, work only in a short while.

Indeed it’s a great gamble not only for every Filipino who chooses to work abroad for the future of their siblings but for this country as well.  Who will be the winner in the end is a debatable issue but experts are saying we are at the losing end.

Reference:  globalnation.inquirer.net Is it really poverty that drives Filipinos overseas?

A Perfect Christmas Gift We Can All Give

By Gilbert M. Forbes

Everybody is thinking of the perfect gift for this Christmas.  It could be a gift for God-children, nephews, love ones, siblings, parents, friends and other relatives including self.

But this Holiday Season, more than anything else we seem to forget that other than the ordinary, there is the extraordinary which needs our gift the most.  It’s we, God and our country needing a different kind of gift.  Particularly now that Christmas season have become highly commercialized and materialized-- totally separating from its real meanings which emanated from its very humble but holy and glorious beginning which actually jumpstarted men's salvation from weakedness and sins

It is the gift of wisdom.  Too few have this gift for if the majority has, then we don’t have this kind of society—insensitive, corrupt, and morally bankrupt   Christ our Lord and country need a different kind of gift too.  Christ our Lord needs the gift of genuine following not lip-service and seasonal worship.  For after all those who is following Him truly as what the scriptures say are the only persons who could be worthy called Christians.  The rest could be considered pagans or secular individuals.

Our country needs true following and a love second to God.  Many times we focus and stick too much to the family that we forget ourselves, country and God.  Many times, the families as the center proves to be very much detrimental for it becomes the root cause of dependence, corruption, of high tend individualism and insensitivity towards national patrimony, genuine social progress and development.

This time of season, more than the ordinary, why not try to give ourselves as gift to our Gods and country and it will multiply a thousand fold for as the scriptures say “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.”

We dream of making the Philippines worthy of being labeled as the only Christian nation in the far east.  MERRY CHRISTMAS!